Let's see your Airfix/Kitmaster kit

[33C]

Should this go here? Revell "Big Boy" kit, motorised with two,cheap, battery loco's.

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

On 05/01/2021 at 22:05, 33C said:

Here's a few of mine.......W.D. uses Kitmaster, motorised wagon power in the tender, Dukedog uses Triang diesel motor bogie in the tender, Aberdare uses Lima 08 chassis, No.1 uses the "Lord of the Isles" chassis. The others you will know! The green "Battle of Britain" uses the original princess wheels, filled with P38 and tampo detail, The Schools uses the kit valve gear, it's fine! Incidentally, the mineral wagons are Airfix kits, 2 rakes of 10, weathered.

 

Out of interest, which chassis did you end up using for the School? I bought a Triang L1 with the intent of using it for the City, but, as you already told me, a Nellie chassis with Romford axles and cranks would be better suited for the job, and given how intimidating modifying the chassis in such a way is for the first time I'm rather tempted to go for the School kit over the City.

[33C]

That was a Triang L1. For the long crankpin,on the front drivers, you could drill out the hole slightly and glue in a Triang Princess/Britannia crankpin to mount the full valve gear or use a longer pin from the early Princess and superglue the kit return crank to it. I can recommend an article in Railway Modeller, March 1981, pages 80-81, for motorising the "City of Truro" kit with the "Nellie" chassis. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by 33C
Added detail.

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Finally got around to digging out my first Kitmaster kitbash (a Dapol reproduction of the model), I built this in December of 2022 from a Christmas present my brother had given to me and a few chassis components for Airfix GMR Prairies I’d bought, it’s by no means the smartest looking kit, a bit of a lumpy runner and not much of a looker, but for a first attempt I’m rather happy with the results.

 

 

Since then I’ve begun work on a second prairie model, of which I have a chassis built and am currently waiting on a body.

 

The story begins with a commission one of my friends wanted building, a modified Dapol Prairie kit, extended to fit a Hornby 2-6-4 4P chassis, not needing the kit’s valve gear I asked if I could have it, to which they allowed me. A Triang Jinty chassis block, some early Triang Princess wheels, the polystyrene valve gear and a few Airfix bogies later and I had a chassis, a smooth runner considering I just eyeball the quartering when such is required, all it needs is a body, but for now my other prairie body gives an idea of what it’ll look like when finished.

 

 

After this Prairie is done I’m going to focus on a Fighter Pilot kit, which will be modified to fit a Princess chassis, and a Shrewsbury kit, fitted to an L1’s, until then I shall bid you all farewell.

[mike morley]

These two both began life as an Airfix church.

 

 

 

The longhouse has been posted on another thread about dry stone walls, but I think it deserves a place here, too.

[Jeff Smith]

Great work.

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Second Prairie kit finally arrived, been assembling the body, will send more photos once it’s complete but this is what I currently have, one thing to note is that I didn’t have to remove anywhere near as much plastic from the footplate due to the significant size difference between the drive systems used on both of my Prairies, with the Airfix chassis having a significant amount of metalwork to it over the Triang one, not to mention the Airfix worm gear rests beneath the exposed segment of the boiler, so I had to cut away at that, ensuring I had enough space for the motor to move freely without making it too obvious, a problem not present on the Triang chassis due to the motor driving the centre axle instead of the front.

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Annnnnnd done! Need to figure out a more secure body mounting system, currently only held on with blu tack.

[33C]

A very neat job! Handrails would look better black...........

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

7 minutes ago, 33C said:

A very neat job! Handrails would look better black...........

Will keep that in mind for the next two kits I’m building, with any luck they should be arriving tomorrow 

[Jeff Smith]

Gwr handrails were generally the same colour as what they were attached to, ie black or green.

[Jeff Smith]

Branchlines does a number of chassis kits for Dapol/Airfix plastic kits.  City of Truro is the only GWR one though.

[Steamport Southport]

16 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Branchlines does a number of chassis kits for Dapol/Airfix plastic kits.  City of Truro is the only GWR one though.

 

Comet do the Prairie chassis.

 

But it does seem to be a bit of a waste of a very good chassis seeing as even the ancient RTR Airfix model is far better than the kit and they are ten a penny. Once you have also sourced wheels, motor, gears, etc. then you could buy a brand new Hornby one. I only paid about £80 for mine.

 

 

Funnily enough City Of Truro is one that is possibly worth looking at as ISTR you can also build a Bulldog, Atbara and Flower from the kit and Branchlines parts. You also get a useful tender.

 

 

Just have fun with them. If you are spending good money it's sometimes not worth the effort to motorise them as there are often better alternatives available.

 

 

 

Jason

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Shrewsbury and Fighter Pilot finally arrived, been doing some bodywork on Shrewsbury which is now to a point I’m happy with.

 

I need a hand with the valve gear though, the extended crank pins have been fitted and I know how to secure the Walschearts links in place, but how do I mount the cylinder block? Better yet, how do I actually secure the connecting rod to the crosshead? I’m not keen on the idea of permanently fixing the block to the body as I want to be able to disassemble the model for servicing, and the con-rod simply sliding over a pin doesn’t seem awfully secure.

 

[Jeff Smith]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

Funnily enough City Of Truro is one that is possibly worth looking at as ISTR you can also build a Bulldog, Atbara and Flower from the kit and Branchlines parts. You also get a useful tender.

I did a Flower, quite a squeeze compensated in P4!

[33C]

1 hour ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

Shrewsbury and Fighter Pilot finally arrived, been doing some bodywork on Shrewsbury which is now to a point I’m happy with.

 

I need a hand with the valve gear though, the extended crank pins have been fitted and I know how to secure the Walschearts links in place, but how do I mount the cylinder block? Better yet, how do I actually secure the connecting rod to the crosshead? I’m not keen on the idea of permanently fixing the block to the body as I want to be able to disassemble the model for servicing, and the con-rod simply sliding over a pin doesn’t seem awfully secure.

 

I find brass track pins a boon for this. Thin enough and you can peen the ends over. Or, thin, piano wire for the finer jobs. Just cut the length you need. Heat the end and plunge into the plastic for a strong fit. As for the cylinders, use just the frame section the cylinders mount on, thin down the frame back and attach a plasticard  cross piece between the two with a screw hole to attach under or over the chassis extension. 

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Shrewsbury’s con rods decided to give out as I was assembling the Walschearts links, and since Dapol doesn’t sell replacement components I’m going to have to wait to get a hold of another kit.

 

In the meantime, I decided to make a start on Fighter Pilot, a modification I’ve seen 33C do before, it runs on an early Triang Princess chassis, wheels filled in with Milliput, honestly debating getting a hold of another Bulleid kit and a 9F kit to try and bash together a rebuilt Bulleid.

 

As for the livery, I saw a rather novel reskin on Train Simulator a while ago of a Bulleid Pacific (I believe a Merchant Navy) in Inter-City swallow colours, a livery which shouldn’t work by any means, yet I thought worked quite well, so I’ve decided to transfer this to my model.

For anyone wondering who created the reskin, I unfortunately do not know.

[Steamport Southport]

Could you not replace the plastic valve gear/motion parts with those from an older Hornby Schools? The 1980s one.

 

They should be a common spare part.

 

 

Jason

Edited August 10, 2023 by Steamport Southport

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

I probably could, but given how I used the plastic valve gear on the Prairie I wanted to do the same on the School, only reason I didn’t for the Bulleid is because the chassis I used on that already had outside motion.

[westernviscount]

15 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

Shrewsbury’s con rods decided to give out as I was assembling the Walschearts links, and since Dapol doesn’t sell replacement components I’m going to have to wait to get a hold of another kit.

 

In the meantime, I decided to make a start on Fighter Pilot, a modification I’ve seen 33C do before, it runs on an early Triang Princess chassis, wheels filled in with Milliput, honestly debating getting a hold of another Bulleid kit and a 9F kit to try and bash together a rebuilt Bulleid.

 

As for the livery, I saw a rather novel reskin on Train Simulator a while ago of a Bulleid Pacific (I believe a Merchant Navy) in Inter-City swallow colours, a livery which shouldn’t work by any means, yet I thought worked quite well, so I’ve decided to transfer this to my model.

For anyone wondering who created the reskin, I unfortunately do not know.

 

I would perhaps use the tender to do the transition between the intercity loco colours and the coach colours like the class 91 and HST power cars. Looks quite nice. Of course, I think this is the best BR livery of them all. 

[33C]

1 hour ago, westernviscount said:

I would perhaps use the tender to do the transition between the intercity loco colours and the coach colours like the class 91 and HST power cars. Looks quite nice. Of course, I think this is the best BR livery of them all. 

 

15 hours ago, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

I probably could, but given how I used the plastic valve gear on the Prairie I wanted to do the same on the School, only reason I didn’t for the Bulleid is because the chassis I used on that already had outside motion.

I have cut new rods from plastic sheet and/or thick card.. it works! Or, try Plastruct/Greenstuff girders or strip. 

[AVS1998]

I saw these in the model shop in town today, picked them up for about £25 together (a tad expensive, but hey, it's the only model shop near me). 

 

 

 

The Lima kit is ridiculously easy, and I can't wait to detail it further. 

 

 

 

And the two together don't look too bad. The Lima house is possibly a bit overscale (I took off the plastic base and it looks better, maybe it's just the attic room that makes it look huge), and the Airfix kit fell together, it was very easy, but will benefit from some detailing. I think there's some examples of detailed Airfix/Dapol houses on the forum that I'll look to. Just something small to fill a half hour. 

[Steamport Southport]

Depends. Possibly the Lima is correct size. 

 

Many of the Airfix buildings kits were very small or of small prototypes. Maybe that's the case with the Country Inn. Seems small for a pub that probably had rooms for travellers to stay. Not found a prototype for it yet. 

 

The church is tiny, but correct.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St_Boniface_Church,_Bonchurch

 

 

Jason

[33C]

On 09/08/2023 at 23:34, Hacksworth_Sidings said:

getting a hold of another Bulleid kit and a 9F kit to try and bash together a rebuilt Bulleid.

Did similar for the "imaginary locomotives" thread. An example of the "Sea Battle" class. 30561 "Trafalgar".

Edited August 15, 2023 by 33C
added detail

[Hacksworth_Sidings]

Been distracted by other projects, but I finally sorted out the tender height on the Bulleid, still not 100% flush with the top of the loco but way better than it once was, just gotta sort out the paintwork.

 

Runs really nicely too, thankfully didn’t overdo the wheel filling, and I recently got a hold of some Lima IC Swallow MK1s which I think will look quite nice behind it…

Edited September 17, 2023 by Hacksworth_Sidings